Cloud computing is a new computing model attempting to mask complexities of large scale computing systems and provide users with easy to use, flexible, and scalable services. The cloud computing paradigm can be applied to provide a wide range of services at various levels of a computing stack ranging from infrastructure (where users gain access to virtual machines (VM) and are responsible for providing and maintaining an operating system and applications within the VM container) to applications where users obtain remote access to fully managed applications. A cloud platform normally has two parts: a business support system (BSS) and an operational support system (OSS).
A BSS is used to manage the interactions between clients and the back end OSS via a network environment on a cloud platform. Such interactions may include, but are not limited to, user account management, resource management, and billing/payment management. These functions differ in specifics from one service offering to another. Different service offerings may utilize different user roles, require different associations among offerings, and have different fulfillment procedures when processing orders.